Separating and cooling apparatus



Feb. 25, 1941. ALTENKlRCH 2,233,189

SEPRATING AND COOLING APPARATUS Feb. 25, 1941. E, ALTENKlRCH 2,233,189

SEPARATING AND COOLING APPARATUS I Filed Sept. 21,-1936 y v2 Shasta-Shedl 2 Patentedreb. 25, 1941 UNITED STATES v y 2,233,189 sErAaArmG AND coouNG APPARATUS Edmund Altenkirch, Neuenhagen, near Berlin, Germany Application September 21, 1936, Serial No. 101,875 In Germany October 2, 19,35

9 Claims.

'I'his invention relates to apparatus for separating gaseous mixtures by the process of absorption, and, if desired, the cooling of those gases not absorbed. 1

The object of the invention is the provision of simple and inexpensive means for separating gaseous mixtures by the process of absorption.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which is simple in design and composedof readily available and inexpensive materials.

Another object of the invention is to provide a gas separator which \may be easily reconditioned by the process of regeneration after an extended period of use during which the absorbent materials have become more or less saturated with the gas being absorbed.

Another object of the invention is sion of novel inexpensive means for utilizing cheap but highly eicient absorbent materials not heretofore generally used because of the expensive apparatus required.

Another object of the invention is the provision of elcient means f or dissipating the heat of absorption to a cooling medium such as atmospheric air without carrying away any of the absorbent material.

Another object of the invention is the provision of means for economically utilizing loose or granular absorption material which is usually characterized by a low co-elcient of heat con- -ductivity without danger ,of contaminating the gasnot absorbed thereby.

. Other objects of the invention reside in certain novel features of the arrangement and construction of parts as will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with.

the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a vlewin vertical section oi' an apparatus for carrying out the objects of thisl invention.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view on line 2--2 of Figure 1 and shows lfurther details of the lowe portion vof the apparatus illustrated in Figure 1.

Figures 3 and 4 are fragmentary views-ot one form of the absorbing and heat exchange members. I

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view of the cooling tubes employed in the lower portion of the apparatus shown in Figure 1.

Figurei is a sectional view on line 6-6 .of Figure 2l of one form oi absorption and h ealt ex- 'change tube used in another part of the apparatus.

) the provi- (Cl. (i2-439) Figures 7 and 8 are sectional views of modiiied forms oi the tube shown in Figure 6.

Figure 9 is a sectional view of a modied form of absorber and heat exchanger.

Figure 10 is a sectional View on line IIl--IIl of 5I Figure 9. l

Figure `11 is a cross-sectional view on line II-I I, Figure 1, of certain of the gasseparating andheat exchange tubes in section B.

While the apparatus is of general utility and 10 application in the art of gas separation by the process of absorption, yet the present device is especially adapted for usejin the iield of air conditioning where it is necessary to treat large volumes of air to reduce the relative humidity and 15 temperature ata minimum of expense and attention. 'According to this invention, these objects are served admirably, as will appear more' fully hereinafter. As will be seen from Figure 1, the apparatus may be conveniently divided into four 20 sections, A, B, C and D. In the upper section A are located a plurality of drying tubes I2 which extend between and are supported by upper and lower header plates I3, I3. 'Ihese tubes are illustrated more fully in Figures 3 and 4 and may g5 consist of one or-more sections. Each section comprises an inner tube I4 of paste-board or other porous material which is readily permeable towater vapor and yet of suflicient strength to support the loose hygroscopicy material I6 con- 30 tained between tube I4 and the outer heat exchange tube I5. The outer tube may be of aluminum foil or other material of high heat conductivity. The hygroscopic material maybe potash, soda, fullers earth or other equivalent ma- 35 terial and is held in place at the opposite ends of the tube sections by suitable retainer rings I1.- In order that as many tube sections as desired may be conveniently connected together, tube I4 is preferably somewhat longer than tube I5 and adapted to telescope into one end of an adjacent tube I4. .l A .A

Tubes I2 are so located in section A that a cooling medium such as atmospheric air may be n conducted through the section by means of conduits I8 and I9 to carry away the heat of adsorption developed in the hygroscopic material. This construction also serves as a means for regenerating the hygroscopic material after its efflciency has been lowered by a prolonged period 50 of use. Whenever it is desired to. regenerate the section, heated gases are Y passed through the casing by means of conduits I8 and I9 to heat up the hygroscopic material and thus drive ofi the water contained therein.)

' should be maintained moist bysome liquides 'capacity is small as compared with thatv of tubes i2.

The cooled and partially dried air 'next comes in contact -with tubes 22 having a relatively high absorption capacity and a relatively low aircooling capacity as compared to tubes 2|. A preferred mode of constructing these tubes is to urroundqan inner paper tube 61 having an o ter coating of varnish 63 by papier-mch 66 which is held in position by an outer paper tube 65. 'I'he outer paper tube must, of course, be porous so that the water vapor may readily pass through the same and be absorbed by the papier-mch. The varnish coating Aserves to prevent the water from saturating the inner tube which conveys a cooling medium.

Tubes 2| and 22 are shown as arranged horizontally between header plates 23 and 24. Cooling air or gas can be conducted througnsection B and through tubes 2|. and 22 by means of conduits 25 and 26, which can also be used for purposes of regenerating tubes 2| and 22 when this becomes necessary. v

The air now passes into the third section C of the apparatus which contains a horizontal set of heat exchange tubes 28 supported between headerl plates 38, and a vertical set of porous paper tubes 29 supported between header plates 3l. The space between the tubes is filled with hygroscopic material such as sawdust, silica gel,r soda, or other similar material having an afiinity for water vapor. The air to be dried passes downwardly through the vertical tubes, while the cooling medium flows through the horizontal tubes.

The fourth and last section D of the apparatus is a cooler which is preferably cooledv by the evaporation of a liquid as watei in heat exchange relation to the highly dried air received from section C.I In thi's section are a plurality of vertically arranged tubes 3Q carried by header plates 40 and constructed in the manner clearly shown inl Figureii. From this view it will be seen that tubes 39 comprise one or more sections which telescope into one another-at their ends.' Each section is made of an inner heat exchange tube 4| and an outer porous tube l2 of wicking or like material. The upper ends oi tubes 42 may extend about the inner tube as shown -at l42a in order tocontact the wicking of the next tube to convey a liquid therebetween. The wicking .water in any desired manner. One way of insuring this is to convey the liquid into the bottom gest themselves to terial IB. Since of section D by means oi' a conduit Il. v The liquid level may, of course, be maintained constant-by any well vknown automatically` operating means.

,A fan 45 (Figure 2) can be employed to supply air to the space around tubes 39 to facilitate the evaporation of water froml the wicking. 'I'he air supply for fan I6 may be taken from the atmosphere through inlet nI6 and conduit 48 or it may be derived from the exhaust of section C through /conduits 41, if) Likewise, the cooling airofor section C may be derived from the atmosphere a low heat exchange i and fastening the' lpansion of the tubes,

the dried and cooled conditioned air of section D, through pipe 56 which in turn is controlled by valve 52. If fan 45 is not so connected to section C by a proper adjustment of valves I3, and 5| as to draw air through the section, it is necessary to operate fan in conduit 56.

From the vforegoing it will be seen that provision is made for great flexibility of operation to meet changing conditions 'and different modes of use. If it is desired to obtain high efiiciency in section D. part of the cool, dry air exhausted byv the apparatus can be led back through section C to reduce the temperature of the absorption tubes and thereby increase the absorption capacity of this section. This same air may then be delivered to section D, where, due toits very low relative humidity, it is' capable of holding large quantity of moisture evaporating from the wicking ony tubes 39, and thereby increase the cooling capacity of these tubes. Onv the other hand, many variations of the above may be had by varying the adjustment of the various valves so that part of the air passingY through sections C and D is conditioned and part atmospheric, or allthe air employed is atmospheric.

Figures 6, 7 and 8 show alternative forms of tubes which can be substituted for tubes 2|` and 28. In Figure' 6, the tube is formed by placing a sheet of foil 32 upon a sheet of porous paper 3| together in any known manner to form a tube. Since the various tubes containing the hygro scopic material may expand differently in vari` ous portions of the apparatus, it is desirable to provide a resilient connection end of the tubes vand the corresponding header plate. This connection may be made in any well knownmanner so .as topermit differential exand to revent buckling or warping of the tubes. p

opposite edges of the sheets ,30

between at least one ,5

Figure 7 shows a reverse arrangement of the two 5 I sheets; the metal sheet 34 being insidethe porous sheet 33, and'the whole being Joined to forma tube in the particular manner clearly illustrated. T he tube is held together .by glue 35 or other adhesive or fastening means. Figure 8 shows still another ,mode ofv forming the tubes', and manyJ other equivalent modes of construction will 'sugthose interested without departing' from the scope of this invention.

The operation of the invention 'so far described is thought obviols, but will be brieiiy summarized las follows: Air or otherl media to be conditioned is supplied to section A of the apparatus by means suchas afan Il. Thisairwill berichinwater vapor. -As the air passes down through tubes i2.' a large amount of the vwater vapor will be absorbedv by porous htulesis |11 b:ndhyg'roscopic maea rated in the process of absorption itois necessa to rovid l carry away this heat-if thery p e means to on eiilciently. This is accomplished according to this invention by passing other air over tubes |2 to absorb the heat. It willl be observed that tubes I2 have a relatively high absorptive capacity and capacity. Itis therefore de-` sirable to cool the air somewhat before attempt- 7 next section B due the cooling and absorption capacitiesof tubes 2|'. 1

ing t0 dry it further.

The airis accordingly cooled inthe'top of the l to a more equitable" design oi' After the air has by tubes `22 contai as papier-mch. Y'

been cooled, it ifs-further driedv ing such hygrompicl material n through intake n controlled by valve' sa, orrroni m orarr to iusuretnat the ,suis thoroughly" 73s on' process is to becarriedi dried, it is next passed into dryingvsection C, and

thereafter to section D where the air iscooled to flexibility of control of this air also provides a convenient means of controlling the dryness and temperature of the conditioned air within certain limits.

vA modified form of vapor and heat exchanger is illustrated in Figures 9 and 10. In rthis construction a plurality of porous tubes 51 containing hygroscopic material 58 are supported in rows in casing 59. Strips 60 of thin metal of high heat conductivity are closely wrapped about a portion of the circumference of tubes 51 and held in position by rods 6I. As shown in Figure 9, the strips of adjacent rows of tubes face each other so as to form a metallic, walled fluid passage 62, and a porous tube walled air passage 63. Conduits 64 are provided to conduct cooling air to and from passages 62, and other conduits, not shown, are provided for conveying air to be 'conditioned through passages 63. The manner'in which this device operates is at once apparent in view of the detailed description of the other exchangers. Obviously, the vapor and heat exchanger of Figures 9 and 10 may be substituted -for any one of the exchangers A, B, and C.

It is also to be understood that, besides the absorbent materials already referred to, rthe. apparatus described in the foregoing lends itself to the use of many'cheap, plentiful and efficient )absorbents such as silicious clay, salts, certain types of turfypeat, absorption coals and other absorption materials not heretofore usable for lack of knowledge of practical apparatus for utilizing the same.

Although the foregoing description describes the apparatus as used to condition air, it. will, of course, be understood that the invention is useful in separating a mixture of many different gaseswhere the conditions are such that one orv D more gases are absorbable by an absorbent and oneor more gases of the mixture are not absorbable thereby. The absorbent material employed would be dependent on the particular conditions and the particular gases to be separated,

5 all of which should be clear from :the state of the prior art as amplified by this disclosure.

From the above description it will be obvious that the invention can be carried out in a number of ways. Various other chang-es, not il- 0 lustrated, will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the in- .vention or scope of the annexed claims.

I claim: 1. Air conditioning apparatus comprising a ,5 housing supportinga plurality of drying elements including a porous sheet, a non-porous sheet spaced therefrom, said space being Ifilled by loose hygroscopic material, and a plurality of cooling elements, said cooling elements including at least '0 a sheet of material of high heat conductivity separating the air to be cooled from 'a vcooling me-A dium, said drying and cooling elements being'- so arranged vthat the air to be conditioned is passed into contact with said porous sheets m whereby water vapor is absorbed bythe hygroscopic material, and lthen theair is passed over said sheet of high heat conductivity whereby the temperature of the air is reduced.

2. Air conditioning apparatus for alternately drying and cooling air in stages comprising ahousing supporting members having a large drying capacity, then cooling members of small drying capacity, then members of large drying capacity, and finally members of large cooling capacity wherebyi` the air is alternately dried and cooled to a desired relative humidity and temperature.

3. The method of conditioning air in stages which comprises removing moisture from atmospheric air by the process of absorption, removing the endothermic heat of absorption from the air by passing the same in heat exchange relation sto a cooling medium, removing additional moisture by exposing the cooled air to other absorbent material, and then cooling the dried air to a'desired temperature by passing said dried air in heat exchange relation but out of contact with an evaporating liquid.

4. The method of conditioning air in stages Which-comprises exposing atmospheric air to an absorbent material, removing the endothermic heat of absorption from the partially dried air, exposing the air so cooled to other absorbent CTI material, cooling the dried air by an evaporative process, and employing part of the cooled, dry air to cool at least one of said bodies of absorbent material.

5. The method of conditioning air in stages which comprises exposing atmospheric air to an absorbent material while passing a cooling medium in heat exchange relation to said material, passing other cooling medium .in heat exchange relation to said partially dried air, further drying the cooled air by exposing the same to other absorbent material, cooling the dried air to a desired temperature by passing it in heat exchange relation to evaporating water, employing part of said cooled, dry air to cool at least one of said bodies of absorbent material.

6. The method of conditioning air in stages which comprises exposing atmospheric air to an absorbent material while passing a cooling medium in heat exchange relation to said material, passing other cooling medium in heat exchange relation to said partially dried air, further drying rthe cooled air by exposing the same to other absorbentmaterial, cooling the dried air to a desired temperature by passing it in heat exchange relation to evaporating water, employing` part of said cooled, dry air to cool at least one of said bodies of absorbent material, and then passing said part of rthe air into the presence of orating walter adjacent the other side of thel heat exchange device to cool the air passing in contact with said one side, and means yfor conducting part of the cooled, dry air into heat exchange relation with said absorbent material to remove the endothermic heat of absorption.

8. In apparatus for conditioning air, means for exposing airto be dried to loose absorbent material, means for` passing air in contact with one side of a heat exchange device, means for evaporating water adjacent the other side of the heat exchange device to cool the air passing in contact with said one side, and adjustable means for conducting any desired proportion of said cooled, dry air and atmospheric air over at least one of said bodies of absorbent material to cool the same and into the presence of said evaporating water to control the rarteV of evaporation of the water.

9. 'I'he method of controlling the cooling of evaporating liquidv to control the rate of evapn oration.

`EDMUND ALTENKIRCH. 

